ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers faced their final regular season opponent in Southern Nazarene University for the first half of their series Friday afternoon. The Rangers played in honor of sexual assault awareness, wearing teal during the doubleheader with Senior Day festivities scheduled for the following day.
Northwestern and Southern Nazarene were evenly matched throughout the day as the Ranger offense came alive. The Black-and-Red tallied one more hit than the Crimson Storm with 15 to their 14, while both teams plated eight runs through both games.
Kalie Johnson had another great day to add to her stellar freshman season as she went 4-for-7, with two runs, one RBI, and her third career homerun. Morgan Kirk and Abby Detar followed closely as they each went 3-for-6 on the afternoon. Kirk earned three runs between both games with two RBIs, a double and a homerun of her own.
Jayden Flowers and Alexus Bailey were the only other Rangers to tally two hits on the afternoon.
Game 1
The Crimson Storm started the game out on top in the first inning as a wind-carried two-run homerun by Mahina Sauer was sent over the left field fence to make the score 2-0 headed into the bottom of the first inning.
A lone single by Kalie Johnson did not get anything started offensively for the Black-and-Red but instead rallied their defense to hold SNU to a 2-0 lead through the second inning.
Another run for SNU was tacked on in the top of the third with another Sauer solo homerun but was quickly answered by the Rangers' offense as Johnson sent a homerun of her own over deep left-center fence to cut the SNU advantage to 3-1.
Northwestern loaded the bases beginning with a single from Kirk, followed by a walk from Taylor Russell and another single from Flowers. Alexa Moses came up big as she drove a sacrifice fly to center field to allow Kirk to score as the Rangers cut into the Crimson Storm's lead 3-2.
A quick top of the fifth opened the offensive door for NWOSU. Detar started the rally with a single down the right field line. Bailey followed closely behind with a sharp ground ball sent up the middle to advance Detar to third. Kirk walked to load the bases for pinch hitter Morgan La Neve who grounded out to second while still earning an RBI as Detar crossed the plate.
Back-to-back singles by Russell and Flowers tacked on two more runs to add insurance runs to the Ranger lead of 5-3.
Northwestern held the Crimson Storm scoreless through their half of the sixth inning but gave up a homerun to Southern Nazarene in the top of the seventh. However, the Ranger defense came up big to end any rally by SNU and took the first game with a score of 5-4 in seven innings.
Game 2
The Rangers fought a hard battle in game two as both teams went scoreless through the first two innings. Northwestern threatened in the bottom of the first on two hits by Johnson and Kirk which led to a bases loaded situation but were unable to score a run.
Southern Nazarene snatched the first run from the Rangers after some walks, a hit, and an error gave them a 1-0 lead.
After a quick inning from the Northwestern offense SNU tacked on an insurance run in the top of the fourth on two hits to extend their lead over the Rangers 2-0.
The Black-and-Red offense came screaming back in the bottom of the fifth inning with back-to-back singles from Johnson and Bailey. Bailey's single was a shot sent screaming into right field and slid past the right fielder which allowed Johnson to come all the way around to score and placed Bailey on third. Morgan Kirk stepped up to the plate and slammed the ball deep past the left field fence to guarantee two more runs to give the Rangers a 3-2 score.
A two-out rally in the top of the seventh by Southern Nazarene tallied two more runs onto their side of the scoreboard to give SNU a 4-2 lead. The Rangers had one half inning to catch up but were unable to score as Northwestern took a tough loss to the Crimson Storm 4-3 in the seventh inning.
Northwestern continues their final series against Southern Nazarene University Saturday afternoon. The Rangers will be honoring their seven seniors with senior introductions to begin thirty minutes before the first game. The first pitch is due to start at 12 p.m.
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